POLL: Sweet wines I've never tried

Not Tokay---but I think the only one of those still around is the Aussie "Tokay" (which is pretty remarkable..

The wines are still around, but not under that name anymore as a result of trade agreements with the EU. The new name is Topaque...

Interesting list of possible names that were proposed in this article about Tokay/Topaque http://moodle.plc.nsw.edu.au/pluginfile ... port-w.pdf

[Jenise]

And it lasts forever, as it can't be damaged.

I bet if you left a bottle open on your counter it would eventually bubble like the La Brea Tar Pits.

Not Tokay---but I think the only one of those still around is the Aussie "Tokay" (which is pretty remarkable..

The wines are still around, but not under that name anymore as a result of trade agreements with the EU. The new name is Topaque...

Interesting list of possible names that were proposed in this article about Tokay/Topaque http://moodle.plc.nsw.edu.au/pluginfile ... port-w.pdf

Magic Pudding??

This Ben Canaider guy likes a little whimsy, doesn't he?

Had them all. Presently have 11 of them in the cellar.

California sweet wines have been ignored also and those are what I started with like Ch. St. Jean, Navarro, Monterey Penninsula and many others.

California sweet wines have been ignored also and those are what I started with like Ch. St. Jean, Navarro, Monterey Penninsula and many others.

I have exactly one half bottle left of Beringer Nightingale, 2001 vintage, which I would open if you ever came to Portland.

My CT misses some bottles, but I was surprised to find white sweet was 4% of my cellar (red fortified is listed as well , but 1%). The white sweet broke down to
France 94.0%
Loire Valley 56.6%
Bordeaux 31.3%
Alsace 4.8%
Southwest France 1.2%
Germany 4.8% Bottles
Pfalz 2.4%
Rheinhessen 1.2%
Mosel Saar Ruwer 1.2%
Austria 1.2% Bottles
Burgenland 1.2%

Not totally accurate, but indicative- sweet CB, especially dessert Vouvray from Huet and Foreau, is my ideal in dessert.

Sorry about the Tokay/Tokaji brainfart!

Thanks for the offer Hoke. I love Portland (think trout and salmon) and have never tried the Nightingale as it runs $30+ around here.

[David M. Bueker]

Clairette de Die and Malaga for me (at least I don't remember trying)

Exactly the same for me. I suppose I could have had either, both or neither at some crazy offline, but no actual record or recollection of either.

Okay, even though I screwed up the poll (never cast things so that people respond in the negative, dummy), I still believe I can see what I thought I would see in the results: that certain sweetie wines are so obscure, for whatever reasons, that they do not resonate with even the focused wine drinkers of this board.

Malaga: okay, expected. Malaga has really fallen off the board the last several years. It's cousins Port and Madeira have maintained their fragile but still important hold on wine drinkers' imagination, but Malaga---in the U.S. market most certainly---has essentially dropped off the radar. Okay, these things happen.

Clairette de Die, or the Dioise area in general? Okay, never got established really well in this country and I suppose it's a specialty that either doesn't resonate or never got sufficient identity clout behind it to do so. More popular in Europe. But, and I'm being brutally honest here: if you haven't had Clairette de Die it's not like you're missing anything monumental in your life. It can be good, mind you, but I've never found it all that compelling. Too me it's pleasant but, really, not that memorable. (Sorry, Dioisians.)

Passimenti? I'll discount that, as it's a vague and unspecific category...albeit fully in keeping with the overall nature of Italian wine (wonderfully chaotic, I mean). Probably should have limited it to vin santo...but that probably wouldn't have fared well either.

Now here's the part I am most interested in: as I expected, the wines the French vin doux naturel, and the VDN of Roussillon in particular, still don't have a broad consumption audience even among wine fanciers. And that's just wrong! Maury, Banyuls, Rivesaltes and others from the hotlands and the uplands in the south of France are the most delightful and deserving of wines and by rights should be in most people's cellars and mouths.

Sweet, yes. But usually not sticky-sweet. Not at all like Sauternes or TBAs. Somewhat in the Port vein, but oh so much lighter and more delicate. Probably closer to Madeira...but not at all like Madeira...in style and substance, the VDNs are the best of the odixative/sun-aged wines, in my estimation.

And they are sweeties I can drink! That is, more than a small sip or two of unction, as with Sauternes and others.

And finally, even though they are two different creatures, I love the VDNs for the same reasons I love Cognac: both are powerful but delicate, both are massively concentrated in their essence yet with patience ready to yield up that complexity, uncoiling out the glass in sinuous delight. And like Cognac, it's possible to slowly nurse a VDN and enjoy the seemingly endless layers of delight deep into the evening, without ever tiring of it.

So you guys get out and try some of these! They're not expensive; they're delightful; and the reward will be worth the effort.

Wow! I'm amazed that I've had all of them except Malaga (and even that I'm note sure of). I've also had:

- Austrian TBA (or is that included in the Trockenbeernauslese category, which I had assumed to be German TBA?)
- Samos Muscat
- assorted fruit wines (cassis, framboise, blackberry, blueberry, rhubarb, cranberry)
- Quady California black and orange muscat and Starboard
- Alsace Sélection de Grain Nobles
- Cyprus Commandaria
- Muscat de Beaumes de Venise
- Portuguese Moscatel

Wow! I'm amazed that I've had all of them except Malaga (and even that I'm note sure of). I've also had:

- Austrian TBA (or is that included in the Trockenbeernauslese category, which I had assumed to be German TBA?)
- Samos Muscat
- assorted fruit wines (cassis, framboise, blackberry, blueberry, rhubarb, cranberry)
- Quady California black and orange muscat and Starboard
- Alsace Sélection de Grain Nobles
- Cyprus Commandaria
- Muscat de Beaumes de Venise
- Portuguese Moscatel

Good job, Ted!

And there's a special Uber-Geek award for the Cyprus Commandaria.

The "assorted fruit wines" category is kinda dicey (so I left them out), because to get the highhighhigh dessert sugar levels you generally have to add TomHill Kansas colloquism of sugar after the fact. And most of this type of sweetie is actually in the category of either a fortified and alcohol-stabilized liquer rather than a wine---i.e., alcohol, either neutral spirits or clear brandy usual, with concentrate of fruit/wine and added sugar.

Had all those too (have a bottle of Commanderia in the sideboard).

Don't forget the sweet ones made by adding spirit to grape must, usually only slightly or even unfermented - don't know if that qualifies under your guidlines. Pineau des Charentes is the best known example.

Anyone else had Floc de Gascogne?

Had all those too (have a bottle of Commanderia in the sideboard).

Don't forget the sweet ones made by adding spirit to grape must, usually only slightly or even unfermented - don't know if that qualifies under your guidlines. Pineau des Charentes is the best known example.

Anyone else had Floc de Gascogne?

Yea, PdC and Floc are both great, Bill. I believe they fall under the "Specialty Category" of the TTTB---as in, "We don't know where the hell these fit into out neat little squares, so we'll call the 'Specialty." Good stuff though: grape must with base spirit added from a previous distillation of the same fruit. (Also makes a damned good summer highball afternoon sipper or aperitif when you're over in those regions. Sort of a brandy/fruit based Collins married to a Spanish white sangria.

The trouble with PdC is that most of the stuff that does manage to come into the country doesn't move very fast---it's not well known and the culties are few and far between. So it it does hit the shelf it often sits there for a long time, and then gets closed out for slow sales. And unfortunately, the stuff gets old and tired, so when people do drink it, they're not impressed----sorta in the same vein that someone opens a bottle of vermouth and lets it sit there forever and get stale and flat and insipid and brown. Shame, too, because the fresh and lively stuff can be charming.

Here's a tip I learned that you mighty try: make a nice sponge cake, something light with absorptive abilities, and add some PdC or Floc (the Floc is way heartier and more rustic) and serve it topped up with whipped cream. Delicious, refreshing, and not too heavy. Good summer dessert. If you need to fancy it up, you can sprinkle sultanas or some such.

Cake idea sounds interesting.

Another wine that doesn't turn over fast enough to stay fresh is Manzanilla Sherry, or Fino in general!

[Jenise]

Had them all. Presently have 11 of them in the cellar.

When I read this, I thought wow, eleven?, knowing you have less of a sweet tooth than I and I have none whatsoever. Then I counted: I have eight. Guess it's not that hard to do.

My wife and I love sweet wines, but we only have six of the wines from the list in our cellar.